Chapter Summaries

The audition began, and the actors became so immersed in their roles that Shen Dong'er and Lian Xiangyu acted out a dramatic breakup while Ning Yi joined Xiangyu in asking Wu Heng for his blessing. Su Bai watched their extravagant declarations and remained baffled by the script.

• An emotionless voice announced that the audition would last two days and began the first day's performances.
• Shen Dong'er became consumed by her role and tearfully begged Lian Xiangyu to remember their love.
• Lian Xiangyu rejected Shen Dong'er, praised Ning Yi, and ordered Butler Huo to show her out.
• Lian Xiangyu knelt before Wu Heng and asked for his blessing to marry Ning Yi, despite their imagined future hardships.
• Ning Yi also knelt before Wu Heng and promised to become a worthy wife and warm their cold villa.

Su Bai left the hall and explored the garden, where Wu Heng and Feng Ling joined him after slipping away from the script’s control. Feng Ling suggested that acting might not be the most important thing on the first day, leaving the group to consider what the script truly demanded.

• Su Bai left the hall and wandered through the glowing garden instead of watching Lian Xiangyu and Ning Yi argue.
• Wu Heng appeared beside Su Bai and said he entered games to create a plausible identity that let him stay near Su Bai without attracting the attention of watchers.
• Su Bai drew close to Wu Heng and touched his face, but Feng Ling interrupted them.
• Feng Ling explained that her maid and Cook role had brought her outside to ask Wu Heng about meals, while Wu Heng said he had left the noisy hall to think.
• Su Bai joked that the three of them might be the first actors eliminated for slacking, and Feng Ling said acting might not matter most on the first day.

Su Bai and Feng Ling decided to observe the director’s evaluation before trying to understand how to clear the game, while testing whether they could influence the script. Their small interference briefly disrupted the scripted characters, but the story quickly forced itself back on course.

• Su Bai and Feng Ling concluded that the director’s judgment of a spectacular performance mattered more than acting and agreed to wait for the first-day evaluation.
• Su Bai picked flowers with Master Wu’s help, and Feng Ling filled the villa with them, making Ning Yi sneeze as she recited her lines.
• Feng Ling told Lian Xiangyu she had hurt her wrist and could not cook, prompting Ning Yi to offer to make dinner before wondering whether she knew how.
• Ning Yi’s question halted Lian Xiangyu, Ning Yi, and Shen Dong'er for a second, but Lian Xiangyu explained that Ning Yi could not cook.
• Shen Dong'er went to the kitchen and began preparing dinner, and Su Bai realized the script had resumed despite the disruption.

After the first day of auditions, the actors regained their memories of being controlled by the script and received a scathing assessment from the mysterious director. Su Bai concluded that the director was a powerful Nightmare World being whose presence kept the villa peaceful overnight, though it had not detected the unknown Doll among them.

• The first day of auditions ended, and Lian Xiangyu, Shen Dong'er, and Ning Yi remembered everything they had done under the script's control.
• Shen Dong'er rushed to the Washroom in revulsion, while the other actors waited for the director's assessment.
• The director called their performances boring and announced that it would take charge of Blood Moon Lake Villa until filming was complete.
• Su Bai and Feng Ling reasoned that a powerful eerie being, likely the director, had driven other eerie creatures from the area.
• The villa remained peaceful through the night, but the director's unseen force did not discover the unknown Doll among the actors.

Su Bai kept his promise to Feng Ling and stayed in his room overnight, while the next morning the others discussed how the previous auditions had controlled them and left them exhausted. Feng Ling warned that Lian Xiangyu, Ning Yi, and Shen Dong'er would be controlled again unless they found a way to sever the Doll Strings before auditions began in less than two hours.

• Feng Ling made Su Bai promise to remain in his room and keep everyone else out, so he stayed in and meditated.
• Su Bai, Wu Heng, Huo Lang, and Feng Ling gathered in the hall the next morning, followed by the exhausted Lian Xiangyu, Ning Yi, and Shen Dong'er.
• Huo Lang, Ning Yi, Lian Xiangyu, and Shen Dong'er described losing control during the auditions and suffering through the forced memories afterward.
• Feng Ling revealed that the affected Players would be controlled again when auditions began unless they could sever the Doll Strings.
• Feng Ling pointed out that less than two hours remained before the auditions started.

With less than two hours before the script resumed control, Huo Lang proposed changing the Players’ scripted selves to make the performance more exciting. The group eagerly discussed ways to disrupt the plot, while Su Bai approved of Huo Lang’s idea and Feng Ling came over to speak with him.

• Feng Ling asked whether the Players could sever the puppet strings before the event began, and the group fell silent, unsure how to escape the script’s control.
• Lian Xiangyu suggested revisiting the Administrator’s information, the previous day’s voice, and the director’s comments for clues.
• Shen Dong’er reasoned that the director wanted a more exciting performance, and Huo Lang proposed changing themselves rather than trying to change the script.
• Huo Lang suggested disrupting the plot by having Ning Yi’s scripted self drown or by leaving messages that revealed the Players’ identities and secrets.
• Su Bai approved of Huo Lang’s approach as the Players excitedly considered ways to make the villa’s story more bizarre, while Feng Ling approached Su Bai.

Su Bai and Feng Ling discussed whether Blood Moon Lake Villa’s director would interfere with the players’ plans or want them to stage an unexpected spectacle. Huo Lang’s group moved their activity to Blood Moon Lake, where Su Bai warned Ning Yi not to enter the water.

• Feng Ling suggested that the director might be monitoring the players and obstruct their plan, while Su Bai speculated that he might want an entertaining, unscripted show.
• Huo Lang and the others decided to take their plan outside the villa and headed to Blood Moon Lake, followed by the gardener, maid, and grandfather.
• Ning Yi, an experienced and enthusiastic underwater adventurer, volunteered to explore the lake despite Huo Lang’s concerns.
• Su Bai warned Ning Yi against entering the water, and Lian Xiangyu urged the group to trust that Su Bai had noticed a danger they had missed.

Su Bai warned the Players away from the untainted lake, and the group prepared ways to disrupt the script before the auditions began. When the script took control, their abilities and precautions failed, and Feng Ling urged them to read the notes they had written.

• Su Bai warned Ning Yi and the others that something dangerous lurked in the lake, and Huo Lang thanked him.
• Lian Xiangyu remembered meeting Su Bai at the Lorimas Grand Hotel and wondered why Wu Heng seemed familiar to his instincts.
• Huo Lang and the others wrote notes about their identities and the script, while Huo Lang sealed the villa and the group bound Lian Xiangyu, Ning Yi, and Shen Dong'er together.
• A chime announced the auditions, and the script took control of the four main characters, erasing Huo Lang's and Lian Xiangyu's abilities.
• Huo Lang freed Lian Xiangyu and the others from the vines, and Feng Ling told them to check the notes in their hands.

Lian Xiangyu and the others dismissed the notes about the Nightmare World and returned to the villa under the script’s influence, repeating their roles in an endless argument. Feng Ling interrupted them and revealed that she had seen the Master with the gardener in the Garden.

• Lian Xiangyu read the note about the Nightmare World and accused Huo Lang of spying on him, while Huo Lang appeared confused.
• Lian Xiangyu, Ning Yi, Shen Dong’er, and the others tore down the weakened vines and returned to the villa hall.
• The script took control of the hall, making Lian Xiangyu, Ning Yi, and Shen Dong’er resume their repetitive argument.
• Feng Ling slammed her hand on the table and demanded that everyone be quiet.
• Feng Ling announced that she had seen the Master having a secret tryst with the gardener in the Garden.

Feng Ling claimed she had seen Wu Heng meeting secretly with the gardener, Bai, and Lian Xiangyu struggled to accept the rumor. Wu Heng confirmed that he was with Bai, leaving Lian Xiangyu stunned.

• Feng Ling announced that she had seen Wu Heng and the gardener together in the garden.
• Lian Xiangyu suspected the villa's maid, gardener, and others of having tied them up and clouded their memories.
• Lian Xiangyu argued with Shen Dong'er before Feng Ling's revelation shocked him.
• Lian Xiangyu looked to Wu Heng for an explanation, while Su Bai realized what Feng Ling was implying.
• Wu Heng confirmed to Lian Xiangyu that he was with the gardener, leaving Lian Xiangyu speechless.

Wu Heng confirmed that he was together with the gardener, revealing that the gardener was Su Bai and shattering Ning Yi’s belief that she and Lian Xiangyu were the story’s central couple. Lian Xiangyu misunderstood the warning against calling the men Father or Mother as a judgment that he was unworthy, and the group was left caught in the resulting confusion.

• Wu Heng told Lian Xiangyu, Ning Yi, and the others that he was together with the gardener.
• Ning Yi saw the gardener, recognized his striking presence, and felt her imagined central role in the story collapse as the Master approached him.
• Lian Xiangyu said he thought he had seen the gardener in a maid outfit, and Feng Ling encouraged the idea.
• Ning Yi asked whether she and Lian Xiangyu would have to call Mr. Su Father or Mother, but Wu Heng told them not to.
• The voice beneath the cloak explained that neither Lian Xiangyu nor Ning Yi shared his or Su Bai’s blood, and Lian Xiangyu took this to mean his father considered him unworthy.

Wu Heng told Lian Xiangyu and Ning Yi they could leave and live together, but his cold indifference left Lian Xiangyu shaken. Su Bai noticed that the emotional shock was disrupting Lian Xiangyu’s red moon power and triggering Beastification, suggesting the script’s control might be breaking.

• Feng Ling implied that Wu Heng’s opposition to Ning Yi had not been about her background, and Lian Xiangyu grew uneasy about his father’s relationship with Su Bai.
• Wu Heng told Lian Xiangyu and Ning Yi to decide their marriage for themselves, then said they should leave and have nothing more to do with the place.
• Lian Xiangyu asked whether Wu Heng no longer cared about him because of Su Bai, and Wu Heng confirmed that he did not care anymore.
• Su Bai observed Lian Xiangyu’s red moon power fluctuating as his emotions spiraled.
• Su Bai saw Lian Xiangyu’s hands beginning to undergo Beastification and suspected that psychological shock could free them from the script’s control.

Lian Xiangyu confronted his lingering need for his family's approval and broke free of the script's control, choosing to honor his Marriage Contract with Shen Dong'er. Su Bai realized the script had a flaw, while Lian Xiangyu and Shen Dong'er remained connected as fellow Players and teammates.

• Wu Heng's words triggered Lian Xiangyu's painful memories of being ignored and rejected by his family, causing his power and Beastification to surge.
• Lian Xiangyu accepted that he still struggled with feeling abandoned, then decided to honor his Marriage Contract with Shen Dong'er.
• Su Bai recognized that Lian Xiangyu had broken free of the script's control when his emotions and power erupted.
• Lian Xiangyu rejected Ning Yi as a marriage prospect and told Shen Dong'er that he remembered their shared experiences as teammates.
• Su Bai realized that Lian Xiangyu and Shen Dong'er had traveled together since leaving the Lorimas Grand Hotel and had developed a compatible partnership as Players.

Lian Xiangyu helped Shen Dong'er and Ning Yi resist the script, while Su Bai pressed Wu Heng for answers about the experimenters and reached an agreement to talk later at the shop. The audition ended with the players clearing the event and choosing whether to stay in the Nightmare World or return to the Real World.

• Lian Xiangyu recounted supposed shared memories to Shen Dong'er, helping her and Ning Yi begin to break free of the script's influence.
• Su Bai took Wu Heng aside and asked what the experimenters wanted from him, threatening to dismantle the Thread-Wrapped Doll or remove another puzzle piece from himself if Wu Heng stayed silent.
• Wu Heng promised Su Bai they would discuss the experimenters when they returned to the shop.
• Shen Dong'er regained her composure, Ning Yi turned her attention to Huo Lang, and the players quietly explored the villa grounds while continuing to act their roles.
• Director #￥%% praised the players' unexpected performance and ended the audition event, while the Administrator announced they had cleared it and could choose whether to stay in the Nightmare World or return to the Real World.

After returning from the game, Su Bai confronted Xiao Wu about what the mysterious beings wanted and learned that Su Xuan had warned him not to know too much. Xiao Wu revealed that Su Xuan’s city held the answer, then raised the possibility that the Red Moon might disappear.

• Su Bai returned to the Mist Shop and found Xiao Wu waiting on the counter in the form of a little boy.
• Su Bai asked Xiao Wu what the mysterious beings were after, and Xiao Wu said Su Xuan had told him that knowing less was better.
• Su Bai suggested that his brother, Su Xuan, might have signed the Marriage Contract with the Ghost Shaman, and Xiao Wu admitted the answer was hidden in Su Xuan’s city.
• Su Bai recalled the imprisoned Experimental Subjects and Fish-Men in the false Honghuai City, which reflected Su Xuan’s lingering attachment to the Merfolk Remnants.
• Xiao Wu explained that the Red Moon was a vital source of power for Strange Creatures and asked Su Bai whether he had considered that it might one day disappear.

Su Bai learned from Wu Heng that the Red Moon had preserved the Nightmare World from total destruction, and that its power was now nearing its end. He realized the experimenters sought to keep the Red Moon alive because they depended on its power and refused to abandon their position, leaving the Red Moon’s fate at the center of their plans.

• Su Bai wondered whether the Red Moon’s disappearance might eventually restore the Nightmare World to normal.
• Wu Heng explained that the Red Moon had prolonged the life of a collapsing world, preserving it until a new civilization could arise.
• Wu Heng revealed that no new civilization had appeared for a long time and that the world now relied on the Red Moon’s power to survive.
• Su Bai reasoned that the experimenters might be sending the Merfolk into the Void Sea to find routes to other worlds before the Nightmare World perished.
• Wu Heng explained that the experimenters could use his power to reach other worlds but refused to leave behind the Red Moon’s power and the authority it gave them.
• Wu Heng stated that the experimenters’ goal was to prevent the Red Moon’s demise by any means.

Wu Heng explained that the Merfolk Remnants’ experiments aimed to create a permanent coordinate in time and merge it into the Red Moon, potentially preventing its extinction. He left Su Bai with a clearer understanding of why merfolk were used in the experiments and what their ultimate goal was.

• Wu Heng told Su Bai that stopping the Red Moon from dying out would require controlling time or wielding greater power.
• Wu Heng explained that the Eerie abandoned traveling into the past because their past selves would still exist and the Red Moon would eventually die out anyway.
• Su Bai suggested that merfolk could leave scales or memories in Void Sea rifts as coordinates for finding them again.
• Wu Heng confirmed that the experiments sought to make a coordinate permanent so it could serve as a fixed point in time.
• Wu Heng said the ultimate goal was to merge that fixed point into the Red Moon.

Wu Heng explained that the Nightmare Game was created to strengthen human test subjects so they could help find a fixed point in time and merge it with the Red Moon. He revealed that Su Bai already carried the coordinate created by Su Xuan, and warned that finding it could lead to an unimaginable number of humans being sacrificed.

• Wu Heng told Su Bai that the beings had experimented on Merfolk to find fixed points in time, then began using human players as test subjects.
• Su Bai realized that the beings had created the Nightmare Game to grant humans power from the Red Moon and cultivate stronger subjects capable of enduring the Void Sea.
• Wu Heng revealed that he and others had been hiding Su Bai because Su Xuan had created a fixed point in time within him using the power of his entire soul.
• Wu Heng explained that merging the fixed point with the Red Moon would make time reverse whenever the Red Moon perished, repeating the cycle endlessly.
• Su Bai asked whether finding the fixed point would stop new players from entering the Nightmare World, and Wu Heng warned that the fusion ritual would require vast numbers of human sacrifices.
• When Su Bai asked whether anything could be done, Wu Heng answered that there might be a way.

Wu Heng explained that the Red Moon Society controlled most beings beneath the Red Moon, but other powerful factions resented its experiments and watched for a chance to oppose it. He hinted that a heavily guarded catalyst might unite those dissatisfied factions against the Society.

• Wu Heng told Su Bai that the Red Moon Society and its leader, the Red Moon Lord, commanded most Strange Creatures and Remnants, while other forces remained independent or hostile.
• Wu Heng explained that the Society monitored Strange Creatures and Remnants capable of returning to the past or traveling between worlds as possible backup plans for the Red Moon’s demise.
• Su Bai realized Wu Heng and Su Xuan had faced trouble because they were among those dissatisfied with the Red Moon Society.
• Wu Heng suggested that a special catalyst could unite the Society’s opponents, and hinted that one might already exist under heavy protection.

Su Bai worried that rifts in the Void Sea might connect the Nightmare World and the Real World. Nearby, a strange Route 666 Bus arrived at a midnight stop, and a young man tried to warn the waiting passengers not to board.

• After Wu Heng disappeared, Su Bai considered his warning that Void Sea rifts were no longer confined to the Red Moon’s world.
• Su Bai wondered whether reports of Red Moon Society creatures appearing in the Real World were connected to the rifts.
• A decrepit Route 666 Bus emerged through the mist and stopped before several people waiting at midnight.
• When the bus doors jammed, the muscular man forced them open while the other passengers prepared to board.
• A young man carrying a round mirror ran up, warned the passengers that the bus was dangerous, and claimed he was with the Relevant Authorities.